News
| November 27, 2012

Manufacturers of pharmaceutical tablets have long encountered problems with their tablet coating solution production process. To overcome this difficulty, Quadro Engineering has developed a System that employs their Quadro Ytron® Jet Mixer, Quadro Vac® sanitary pneumatic conveyor, Quadro® Lift, and a bottom entry magnetic mixer.

Traditional methods include a two-tank system; one to produce a pigment solution, and the other to produce a gum-based solution. In the pigment production tank, the pigment powders are added to the surface of the liquid and an in-tank high shear mixer is used to incorporate the powders into a solution. This process is dusty and creates numerous environmental and health concerns. The other tank employs a traditional mixer to incorporate the gums. This results in the formation of lumps that require long periods of time in order to be broken apart, and the creation of a high percentage of waste when filtering the unhydrated product. Long batch times cause bottlenecks in the tablet manufacturing process. Also, as solvents are used, the entire production system needs to be explosion-proof.

With Quadro’s technology, powders are pneumatically conveyed into the tank, dust-free, by a special air-driven motor Quadro Vac®, thereby eliminating dusting and spark potential. The Ytron Jet Mixer, with explosion-proof electrics, rapidly incorporates both pigments and gums, lump-free. The bottom-entry, magnetic mixer is retained from the original design, as a means of keeping the solution in suspension, and to prevent settling. The Quadro® Lift enables the mixer to be removed from the tank, creating system flexibility and enabling movement to other parts of the Manufacturing Facility, as required.

Quadro’s Mixing System, a turnkey solution, eliminates problems previously encountered by preventing dusting and lump formations. Processing time is reduced by a magnitude of hours, resulting in significant processing efficiency improvements and a reduction in production costs.